Any work not paid for by insurance doesn't show up on Carfax at all. That's just how it is. I had an inspection done on a car that turned out to be a former press track car. Carfax on it was clean. Inspection showed a replacement engine and that someone had gotten friendly with a rail. It had been repaired, but not well enough that a trained eye couldn't tell it had been repaired.

Explodo:Any work not paid for by insurance doesn't show up on Carfax at all.

This. Wife and I were in the market for a used car last year, and found what we were looking for in our price range at a local dealership. Only problem was the body panel seams didn't quite line up the way you'd expect on a 4-year old car. When I brought that to the attention of the salesperson, she replied "well, it's got a clean Carfax" like I must be seeing things.

That response must usually work, because she clearly didn't have any canned reply for "umm, the trunk lid is crooked" other than "it's got a clean Carfax". Thanks, lady.

Explodo:Any work not paid for by insurance doesn't show up on Carfax at all. That's just how it is. I had an inspection done on a car that turned out to be a former press track car. Carfax on it was clean. Inspection showed a replacement engine and that someone had gotten friendly with a rail. It had been repaired, but not well enough that a trained eye couldn't tell it had been repaired.

Isn't there also a delay before it would show up on the report? Let's say you get into a car accident, get the car fixed. If you sell the car within a few months the report would come up clean because it hasn't shown up yet...

carfax is kinda cool for newer cars as pretty much every major dealership out there reports on things like maintenance, and the mileage at registration points gets reported by a lot of states. and it's always reported whenever a car transfers owners, so you can get an idea of 'well, the first owner didn't really drive it much, 30k miles over seven almost eight years, but this twit selling it owned it for two years and put 90% of the mileage on it... yeah no, not gonna pay quite so much for a car that's had 120k miles in under two years. '

it certainly allows you to sniff out bullshiat from private sellers, like the above mentioned case. i still think the money we dropped on carfax when we bought our van this spring was money well spent, as we went with private sellers this time and it let us honesty-check them.

MugzyBrown:Anti-Trust lawsuits.. help us government another business is kicking our ass!

Yeah, this one is rich. Car dealers complaining about monopolies, collusion, exclusivity, etc.... you know, the same car dealers who sue to keep Tesla from selling directly to consumers and who support blue laws preventing dealerships from selling cars on Sunday

But what really sends this one over the top is...

Adding a little bit of spice to the plaintiff's case is the fact that Carfax reports aren't always accurate. Carfax and its competitors rely largely on the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, a database of insurance claims and other data pulled from 41 states. Vehicle info from other regions can be left out of those reports, resulting in inaccuracies, not unlike the kind recently uncovered on 20/20.

Thank god those paragons of trust, used car dealerships, are concerned about the accuracy of the information being provided to a potential customer.

whizbangthedirtfarmer:1) Carfax doesn't tell me diddly, really. It will tell me where the car's origin is, and track its sales history. It will tell me if a claim has been put in for flooding. That's about it.

2) Every time I've gone to the dealer, they've practically shoved the Carfax report in my hand before I've driven it. They love it because it seems to enhance their credibility.

\hoping wife's 02 Elantra holds out for a few more years\\can't stand car shopping

If you bring your car to a reputable shop for repairs, those will often be reported as well. So do oil changes at some places if you bring them in. If it's not a car that's been brought to some shade tree mechanic, or had done all the repairs themselves there'll be a moderately decent record of what the car has been through.

Explodo:Any work not paid for by insurance doesn't show up on Carfax at all. That's just how it is. I had an inspection done on a car that turned out to be a former press track car. Carfax on it was clean. Inspection showed a replacement engine and that someone had gotten friendly with a rail. It had been repaired, but not well enough that a trained eye couldn't tell it had been repaired.

That's not entirely true. If a police report is filed, and the cop says the damage was "moderate" or more, it can show up even if the work is done outside of the eyes of the insurance company.

all these used car lots can come together to sue carfax but they can't all say "hey, we're gonna stop using carfax"? the customer can always go to it themselves... sorry if they're in an exclusivity license with them, but didn't they enter into it?

FullMetalPanda:Do they offer CarFax for women? I want to know what I'm getting into...

Not for $16.95. You'll have to spend a little more to know whats really going on in there. For women, I suggest alcohol. You may also want to get a second opinion from her second or third best friend (not first). A little up-front investment can really let you know whats going on under the hood.

For cars, I suggest a good mechanic, local, not franchised. Talk to your neighbors about where they go. Have the mechanic check everything out. A little up-front investment can really let you know whats going on under the hood.

The thing is, what does and doesn't show up on a Carfax report is pretty random, making the whole process useless. If it were mandated for all repair shops and had an over 99% reporting rate, it would be of some use. As it is, it's just one more tool for the car industry to screw suckers.

Incontinent_dog_and_monkey_rodeo:The thing is, what does and doesn't show up on a Carfax report is pretty random, making the whole process useless. If it were mandated for all repair shops and had an over 99% reporting rate, it would be of some use. As it is, it's just one more tool for the car industry to screw suckers.

But I should still get the rust proofing coating, right? They said they would knock off 500 bucks!!!

Ok, but it must do some good if some people don't want to give you the report since it would show their car sucks?

Explodo:Any work not paid for by insurance doesn't show up on Carfax at all. That's just how it is. I had an inspection done on a car that turned out to be a former press track car. Carfax on it was clean. Inspection showed a replacement engine and that someone had gotten friendly with a rail. It had been repaired, but not well enough that a trained eye couldn't tell it had been repaired.

Even with insurance it is not always reported, it depends on the state. I had a Honda minivan that was it and had over 6k of repairs, when I sold it nothing was on the carfax.

Worked as an auto adjuster. We had a case where a car rental place basically fixed up a car that had been in a accident, and didn't report it. The appraiser said it had clearly been in at least a moderate hit. The Carfax came clean. If you "know a guy who knows a lot about cars", you can keep a lot of damage off the record.

Kristoph57 was right. Get a mechanic you trust to look it over first. It'll cost a bit now, but it'll save you a lot later.

FullMetalPanda:Incontinent_dog_and_monkey_rodeo: The thing is, what does and doesn't show up on a Carfax report is pretty random, making the whole process useless. If it were mandated for all repair shops and had an over 99% reporting rate, it would be of some use. As it is, it's just one more tool for the car industry to screw suckers.

But I should still get the rust proofing coating, right? They said they would knock off 500 bucks!!!

Ok, but it must do some good if some people don't want to give you the report since it would show their car sucks?

Idiot.

Of course you should get the rust proofing. And you're a rube if you let them charge you more than $100 for the synthetic blinker fluid.

Carfax is definitely not as useful as it would seem. I ordered one hoping to see a good service history on the car I bought, and got next to nothing. Not going to waste my money on that shiat ever again.

I mean its not a huge deal, I had all the maintenence done that I knew would be due, but it would have been nice to see "okay, the last owner did belts, hoses, etc at this time". Luckily my local car place, a goodyear shop, is honest enough to tell me when i need things vs. when i want something done but its really not necessary yet (like they didnt hit me for brakes when i thought i needed them, just have squeeky brakes.).

For me the carfax report is worth it. I just bought a 2010 Honda Accord with low miles on it. The carfax showed that the recommended routine maint was performed on the car which tells me the previous owner at least attempted to take care of the car and not just drove it into the ground. You know the type... Oil changes? What is that? I just keep pouring more in as needed.

Dingleberry Dickwad:whizbangthedirtfarmer: 1) Carfax doesn't tell me diddly, really. It will tell me where the car's origin is, and track its sales history. It will tell me if a claim has been put in for flooding. That's about it.

2) Every time I've gone to the dealer, they've practically shoved the Carfax report in my hand before I've driven it. They love it because it seems to enhance their credibility.

\hoping wife's 02 Elantra holds out for a few more years\\can't stand car shopping

If you bring your car to a reputable shop for repairs, those will often be reported as well. So do oil changes at some places if you bring them in. If it's not a car that's been brought to some shade tree mechanic, or had done all the repairs themselves there'll be a moderately decent record of what the car has been through.

Which is what makes it bullshiat in a way.

I do all the maintenance on my cars. One, because I trust myself more than some minimum wage wrench monkey, two, because it is less expensive in the long run, and three, because I enjoy it. But if I ever go to sell one of them, it will look on paper they haven't had so much as an oil change for the entire time I've owned them. It's just another case of an artificial requirement created to funnel money away from consumers.

StrangeQ:Dingleberry Dickwad: whizbangthedirtfarmer: ...But if I ever go to sell one of them, it will look on paper they haven't had so much as an oil change for the entire time I've owned them. It's just another case of an artificial requirement created to funnel money away from consumers.

Or you could keep a spreadsheet (or a paper log) with two columns date and maintenance done, who the hell would go to the trouble to forge info like that? Keep receipts for the big stuff (You need the receipts for tires and batteries for their long warranties anyways).

A Carfax report is a just a tool for both the seller and buyer, even if a car i was interested in had a clean Carfax report I'd still get a mechanic to look at it as even if the carfax is accurate something could be on the edge of failure and this not on the report.

bofkentucky:StrangeQ: Dingleberry Dickwad: whizbangthedirtfarmer: ...But if I ever go to sell one of them, it will look on paper they haven't had so much as an oil change for the entire time I've owned them. It's just another case of an artificial requirement created to funnel money away from consumers.

Or you could keep a spreadsheet (or a paper log) with two columns date and maintenance done, who the hell would go to the trouble to forge info like that? Keep receipts for the big stuff (You need the receipts for tires and batteries for their long warranties anyways).

I do that actually, to keep track of oil change intervals. Still, if someone wanted to run an "official" report, it would come up empty.

I bought a brand new GMC pickup in 2003. Never been wrecked, and has been to the dealer twice, one for a fuel filter recall and for new tailgate straps. CarFax says it has 14 lines on it, but unless I pay $39.95, I cannot find out what they are.

You Are All Sheep:As someone who had a fairly major accident not turn up on a carfax that a dealership ran when I traded it in, I'm getting a kick....Agreed...my sister recently traded in her small pickup truck for a new vehicle. The truck was significantly damaged (and repaired under her insurance) after a deer ran into the side of it. She drove by the dealer last week and saw her old truck in the front row of used cars with a sign "Clean CarFax!" on it. Not sure if the dealer was scamming or if CarFax missed the incident.